On 5 September, 2023, during the school-year opening ceremony
at the Lê Hông Phong High School for the Gifted in Hồ Chí Minh City, the school
leadership and the management committee of the Bùi Trọng Chương scholarship
fund (BTCSF) organized the annual scholarship award ceremony. In attendance were the
school leadership and teaching staff, Mr. Võ Anh Dũng and Mr. Lâm Hoàng Phúc of
the Bùi Trọng Chương scholarship fund (BTCSF) management committee, and Mr.
Phạm Đình Sơn, Deputy Director of Vietnam Centrepoint.
Thanks to the continuing generous support of
many donors in Vietnam and North America, the Bùi Trọng Chương Scholarship Fund
awarded 26 scholarships to Lê Hồng Phong students with excellent or outstanding
academic records and in adverse family circumstances. The value of each
scholarship increases to 12 million VND (about 500 USD) for 24 students. One
student received 15 million VND due to her extremely difficult family
circumstances; and another student in similar circumstances, a supplementary
award of 2 million VND besides his 14-million-VND award from another
foundation. 10 of the 26 scholarship recipients had received Bùi Trọng Chương
scholarships in 2022-23. The Bùi Trọng Chương scholarship fund awarded a record
total of 305 million VND in the academic year of 2023-2024.
Mr. Trần Hữu Phúc Tiến, a member of the BTC Scholarship Fund
Management Committee and Director of Vietnam Centrepoint, has also awarded an
English-language bursary to each of the 26 students receiving a Bùi Trọng
Chương scholarship. The Vietnam Centrepoint bursary is worth 11 million VND
each quarter, and thus 44 million VND in one calendar year for a student with
good study results at Vietnam Centrepoint. The total award value to each BTC
scholarship recipient thus amounts to 56 million VND (about 2,370 USD). This is
a record award at the high school level in Vietnam.
A. Academic achievements and aspirations
* Following the 2018 curriculum of the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, students are rated “Excellent” for achieving the grade of 8/10 in 6 subjects, and “Outstanding” for achieving 9/10 in 6 subjects. Schools no longer calculate official grade-point averages.
B. Family backgrounds of 26 students who received BTC scholarships
(listed not in the same order as in part A)
·
Recently
becoming an orphan with the death of both parents, supported by extended
relatives.
·
Lodging in Saigon provided free through charity, mother working in
informal economy in another province with unstable income, unable to provide
much financial support for family members.
·
Single mother in menial labor job, with unstable income,
supporting 2 children, her parents, as well as a nephew and a niece.
·
Father
working in the informal economy, with unstable and low income, supporting a
family of 4 with many medical expenses.
·
Single
mother, working in the informal economy with low income, supporting her child
in school and an elderly grandmother.
·
Parents
in low-skilled jobs, supporting a family of 7, having to sell house to pay off
debts.
·
Family
with 2 members in low-skilled jobs and with low income, supporting 3 other
members, including 2 in school, classified by local government as a household
with economic difficulties.
·
Single
mother with low income supporting 3 children in school, unable to purchase
medications for a child with chronic illness.
·
Single mother raising a child, living in rented quarters; with normally
below-average income adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and economic
slow-down in the past 3 years.
·
Mother
in menial labor job, raising 2 children in school and living in rented quarters.
·
Parents
in menial labor jobs in the informal economy, with low and unstable income,
raising 2 children in school.
·
Father
having passed away, mother in low-skilled job, supporting a family of 3.
·
Single
mother in menial labor job and with low income, raising a child and living in
rented quarters.
·
Father recently passing away,
mother in low-skilled job, supporting 2 children in school and an elderly
grandmother.
·
Parents in low-skilled jobs with unstable income, raising 2
children in school.
·
Single
mother in menial labor job, supporting 2 family members and living in rented
quarters.
·
Single
mother working in the informal economy, with low income, raising one child and
supporting 2 elderly grandparents.
·
Family
of 4, with 2 still in school, relying mainly on mother’s modest income because
of father’s low and unstable income.
·
Family
of 4, with 2 in school, living in rented quarters, depending on mother’s income
which is also used to support elderly grandparents with illnesses.
·
Family
of 4, with 2 still in school, depending completely on father’s modest income.
·
Parents
with a lot of medical expenses and raising a child in school.
·
Father recently passed away, mother entering the labor market with limited
income and having to pay off family debts.
·
Family
of 4, migrating to Saigon, living in rented quarters, depending on parents’
worker income adversely affected by the recent economic and export slowdown in
Vietnam.
·
Parents
with low income, supporting 2 children in school and paying off family debts.
·
Family
in another province, with modest income, supporting 2 children in school
(including one in Saigon) and paying off family debts.
· Father having passed away, mother in low-skilled job with low income, supporting 2 children in school.
